Installing Abiquo Enterprise 1.6.8 using the 'Cloud in a Box' installer profile

This tutorial will guide you through the required steps to install Abiquo
Enterprise Edition Server 1.6.8 and all its dependencies in one physical server or Virtual Machine.

The "Cloud in a Box" installer profile installs everything required to run the Abiquo Platform in one server:

• Abiquo Platform
• Storage Server (using the Abiquo LVM Storage Agent)
• KVM Hypervisor

You can use desktop virtualization technologies like VMWare Workstation or Oracle VirtualBox to install everything in a Virtual Machine (hypervisor included). For performance reasons, this setup is not recommended for production environment.

After the installation, you will have a fully working Abiquo Platform, allowing you to:

• Manage the (built-in) LVM Storage Server: create volumes, attach volumes to VMs, etc.
• Deploy Virtual Applications to the (built-in) KVM hypervisor
• Manage Virtual Datacenter Networks (VLANs)
• Create Virtual Application Bundles and Statefull VMs

Hardware Requirements

Minumun requirements

• 2GB of RAM
• 20GB hardrive.

Recommended requirements

• 4GB of RAM
• 100GB harddrive

IMPORTANT Bear in mind that the server (or the Virtual Machine) where you are installing Abiquo will be the Hypervisor and the Storage Server also. The number of VMs (and the size of them) you will be able to deploy using this setup depends on the amount of RAM and Storage you have in this server.

Install Abiquo Enterprise Edition ISO

IMPORTANT To follow this document you will need to burn the Abiquo Platform installer ISO to a CD and boot your server from it.

1. Boot from the CD or ISO image

At the boot up screen, hit the <Enter> key.

2. Test the Media (optional)

If the Abiquo ISO image was burnt to a CD you have the option of testing the
media. This could take 15-20 minutes but is recommended to rule out media
defect.

3. Welcome Screen

After completing step 3, the graphical setup screen will appear. Click <Next>.

4. Select your keyboard

and click <Next>.

5. Partition the disk

The installer will search for any Abiquo installations and will allow you to partition
the disk. We need to select 'Review and modify partitioning layout'

Click next.
The following screen will appear:

IMPORTANT We need to edit the VolGroup00 volume group and rename it to 'abiquo'.

Double click the VolGroup00 label (highlighted) to get to the edit dialog:

In this tutorial, we are using a 20GB hard drive. We need to free some space for the LVM storage agent to create new logical volumes. In the screenshot above, we are resizing LogVol00 ( / ) to use 8GB and LogVol01 (swap) to use 1GB.

After shrinking the logical volumes and changing the volume group name to abiquo, click ok:

Click next.

6. Configure the boot loader

Defaults are usually ok. Click next

7. Set up networking

Either use DHCP or manually configure the networking parameters.

a. DHCP

If using DHCP, just click <Next> to go to the next screen.
If you need to set up networking manually, then click the <Edit> button and
follow along:

b. Fixed IP address

Under "IP Address" enter the server IP address.

For "Prefix" enter its subnet mask (it could be in CIDR notation or dotted format.)

Disable IPv6 support and click <OK>.

Back at the networking screen, enter a hostname for the server:

Under "Miscellaneous Settings" enter the appropriate values and click
<Next>.

If you do not have this information please ask your System/Network
Administrator.

8. Select your location and click <Next>:

9. Enter your root password and click <Next>:

If you need remote assistance, your Abiquo support representative will need this
password.

10. Select the type of installation

Refer to Types of Installation to understand the different types of installation.

To install the 'Cloud in a Box' profile check 'Cloud in a Box' and uncheck everything else-

Click <Next> to continue.

11. Enter the Abiquo Server Management IP (Event Sink Address)

Default (127.0.0.1) is Ok for this install type.

12. Ready to install

The final installation screen will appear. Click <Next> to continue

The installation process usually takes 5-10 minutes, depending on your hardware.
You will get the following screen at the end of the installation. Click the <Reboot>
button to continue

Log In to the web client

Now go to your favorite browser and type in the AEE site address for the server:http://MyServerName:8080/client-premium/. The default login and password are
"admin" and "xabiquo", respectively.

Register the software

Add a valid Abiquo license here.

Set up Heartbeating (optional)

Set up XenServer external storage (optional)

Enterprise Edition Functionality This feature is available in Abiquo Enterprise Edition

If you plan to use XenServer hypervisor with extenral storage features, follow the steps explained in the following link to enable Abiquo access the StorageLink Gateway Service: Configure XenServer external storage

Troubleshooting

Abiquo is compiling a troubleshooting document, which will be posted and circulated
when it is ready. For the time being, contact eesupport@abiquo.com for any
installation issues.

Kickstart installations

For unattended Abiquo 'Cloud-in-a-Box' installations, we have created a sample kickstart config file:

http://mirror.abiquo.com/abiquo/ks/abiquo-ciab.ks

To use this sample kickstart config file, issue the following command when installing Abiquo from the ISO/DVD at the boot prompt:

linux ks=http://mirror.abiquo.com/abiquo/ks/abiquo-ciab.ks

IMPORTANT You might need to tweak the kickstart config file for certain hardware configurations (to meet your needs). This one assumes that you are using a 20GB+ disk with a SCSI controler (SATA disk will also work).